My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark
by Judith Wilcox
Summary: I'm the bad guy! I DON'T save the day, I DON'T ride off into the sunset...and I DON'T get the girl. Or guy in this situation. But that doesn't matter. It's not like he'd want me anyway. I'm the villain. And after everything I've done, to the X-Men and to the city, who'd want the bad guy saving the day anyway? —(Not set in any specific season. Got inspiration from Megamind.)—
1. Chapter 1

_"Be careful making wishes in the dark, dark,_

 _Can't be sure when they've hit their mark, mark,_

 _And besides in the mean, meantime I'm just dreaming of tearing you apart...,"_

-My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark; **by Fall Out Boy**

* * *

"I'm sorry, but this isn't going to work."

"There's gotta be _something_ we can arrange..."

"This isn't going to work out, I'm sorry."

Arabella just outside the door, listening in as the latest family returned her. As if she could be traded in for something better. Bringing her knees up, Arabella wrapped her arms around them and hugged them tightly to her chest. Why did she even bother trying? None of the families she ever went with _really_ wanted her, granted she didn't make it easy for them, but at sixteen, it seemed pointless to even try. Arabella wasn't going to get adopted. She knew that since an early age; no family would want her.

It became even more evident the day Arabella realized she was a mutant. Ordinary humans didn't really know about the existence of mutants yet, but a majority of those who did weren't exactly friendly. So when Arabella started telling her previous families things she shouldn't have known about, she was sent back. When Arabella started having violent outbursts that led to things moving without being touched, she was returned almost immediately.

As Arabella's powers began to grow, so did her disappointment and anger; her loneliness and sadness. Her powers eventually intertwined with her emotions, the telekinesis _exploding_ during deep, intense emotional outbursts — it became even stronger if those emotions were negative. Arabella's telepathy was complicated — she could do the basic necessities that came with it, like reading minds, but she could do so much more than that. As her telepathy grew, Arabella began to realize that if she _really_ pushed herself, she'd be able to create vivid, almost lifelike, hallucinations on someone's deepest fear. That took more concentration than she was willing to give most of the time, but it was helpful when needed.

That had been another reason she was unable to get adopted. Arabella's emotional outbursts would lead to her recreating her foster family's deepest fears along with destroying their home. And...Arabella thought it felt _great_. She was allowing people to feel the same kind of pain she was experiencing every day.

When the door opened, the couple hurried out, not even throwing a look the young girl's way as they left. When the front door slammed shut, Arabella unconsciously flinched.

"This is the fifth family this month, Belle." Miss Adalyn's voice filled Arabella's ears. Adalyn Schmidt was a woman in her mid-forties; she had known Arabella since she was a baby, had practically taken care of her. So hearing Adalyn's voice filled with pity and sympathy filled the young girl with irritation. "I don't understand why you're making this difficult for yourself."

"You and I both know I'm never getting adopted."

"You _would_ if you'd give them a chance."

"At what? Being disappointed in me? Taking me back once they realize I'm a mutant?"

"Not all people are like that," Adalyn said firmly. "There are so many people out there who are kind and understanding towards mutants."

"Not from what I've seen."

Sitting down next to her, Adalyn let out a sigh. Neither of them said anything for a minute, just enjoying the peace and quiet. "I remember the first time I saw you," Adalyn said, her voice quiet. "You were so tiny, crying."

"The day my parents abandoned me."

"Have you ever thought that they couldn't afford to take care of you?" Adalyn looked at Arabella solemnly. "It happens, Belle. Families sometimes can't take care of their children and have to give them up." No response. "They wanted you to have a better life," she went on. "That's why you're here. It may not be the best solution, but it could've been the only one they had."

"Like it matters now."

 **O.O.O.O**

That night, Arabella laid in bed, unable to sleep. Her mind was wandering, thinking up ideas. Ideas that had been occupying her mind for months. What if she just left? Being in foster care was bringing her nothing but pain and stress. She _could_ leave. All she needed was the right opportunity. Tapping her fingers on her blanketed stomach, Arabella let out a sigh.

"You need to get some sleep." The whispered reply made Arabella's gaze go over to her roommate, Joanna. Joanna Gurzsky was only a year younger than Arabella, but was a genius when it came to technology. From what Arabella understood, Joanna's Polish parents had lost custody of her for reasons unknown — whenever the subject would be brought up, Joanna would get a distant look in her eyes and shut down. Even _hinting_ at her parents brought on some kind of episode where she'd go so far into her head it would be near impossible most days to get her out. Which meant it was probably a good thing Arabella had some experience with minds.

"So should you, Jo." The response had a hint of humor in it, but was filled with seriousness.

"I had a nightmare," she responded.

"What was it this time?" Arabella looked at her roommate solemnly. "Or do you not want to talk about it?"

"I'd rather not," Joanna sighed. "Are you thinking about leaving again?"

Scoffing, Arabella rolled her eyes. "I should've never told you that," she exclaimed.

"But you did anyway." A smirk spread across Joanna's lips. "I'm pretty much your second-in-command. If you're going, I am, too."

"Second-in-command?"

"We're unadoptable, Bellie," Joanna pointed out. "How many people want to adopt someone our age? Zilch. No one."

"I know."

"So if we leave _together_ , we'll be able to make a life for ourselves. We don't need these people."

"What about Adalyn?"

"She's nice, but she'd try and stop us." Joanna looked Arabella's way, a determined look in her eyes. "Bellie, c'mon — we've only got so much time."

Arabella's gaze went back to the ceiling. Joanna had a point, they were in no way going to be adopted, and they weren't going to be wasting anymore time in a place where they'd be continually rejected. Tapping her fingers on her blanketed stomach, a slight smirk came across Arabella's face.

* * *

 **(A/N):**

 **May not be the best first chapter, but I hope you guys enjoyed it anyway.**

 **Do I own anything in this franchise? No. No I don't.**

 **This is the first time I've written a story in this fandom, so if you guys could be a little patient with me, that'd be awesome. Don't hesitate to give some constructive criticism, and if I'm getting any of the canon characters wrong, don't hesitate to let me know, OK? That's important to me.**

 **I had been watching Megamind when I got the idea to write something like this. Hopefully you guys enjoy it to some degree. If you don't, whatever, I can't change your mind.**

 **Leave a thought on anything I can improve on.**

 **Thanks.**

 **Judith W**


	2. Chapter 2

_"Baby, I don't need dollar bills to have fun tonight,_

 _(I love cheap thrills)_

 _Baby, I don't need dollar bills to have fun tonight,_

 _(I love cheap thrills)_

 _Baby I don't need no money,_

 _As long as I can feel the beat...,"_

-Cheap Thrills; **by Sia**

* * *

"Arabella Sheridan, you can't seem to stay out of trouble, can you?"

"What can I say, Your Honor, I just _love_ it here." Arabella sat back in her seat, a sarcastic smirk on her face. During the last year and a half, Arabella and her friend, Joanna Gurzsky, had gone on a bit of a... _rampage_ , for lack of a better word. With Arabella's abilities and Joanna's tech savviness, they were able to cause a _lot_ of problems in their hometown, Empire City. Millions of dollars to rebuild everything they destroyed; curfews had been put in place in case Arabella or Joanna decided to do anything reckless _(though it didn't really matter, they did whatever they wanted no matter the time of day)_ ; Empire City's police department had to be specially trained to be able to handle Arabella. Considering her telepathy and telekinesis had grown in the year and a half that went by, that meant she was able to hold her own _easily_ in a fight.

Arabella could do so much more with her telepathy than she initially thought. Before, she could cause people to have vivid hallucinations of their deepest fears; they would still be able to move around and react. After rigorous training, Arabella figured out a way to put her victims into a deep catatonic state, having them relive their fears in an endless loop. Not only that, but she didn't even need to have her victims relive their nightmares to make them catatonic. All she had to do was concentrate hard enough, and they'd be in a coma-like state until she snapped them out of it.

Another reason why her abilities have grown so much is because of their link to her emotions. Because Arabella had become so bitter and resentful in foster care and in her inability to really have a family, her powers became stronger the more resentful she became. Her telekinesis fed off her negativity, growing steadily each day. Her telepathy absorbed the negative thoughts and feelings she had, becoming even stronger, as well. But she couldn't just rely on her emotions to keep her powers satisfied, training had to be done, as well.

It had been thanks to Joanna that Arabella managed to become as powerful as she was. The young mutant's friend built a special training area in an abandoned factory outside of Empire City, one that could help Arabella concentrate her powers and figure out methods to effectively use them. In the end, the factory became Joanna's and Arabella's "lair", their base of operations. The outward appearance stayed the same, but the inside was a work in progress to say the least. Joanna worked on building effective weaponry to help Arabella terrorize the city, both of them having dreams to one day take control over everything and everyone. Whatever happened after that was up for debate.

"Ms. Sheridan, the court knows of your sentencing," the judge announced, "where you were tried as an adult for terroristic acts and the multiple deaths that were resulted from that. And because of your recklessness, your inability to respect authority, it has been decided that your sentence be extended."

A pout came on Arabella's face. Her latest breakout from prison — another one of Joanna's brilliant ideas that, unfortunately, failed — had gone with Arabella being given mail that contained a special device that would turn Arabella invisible. Once she was given the opportunity to go outside for recreational purposes, in a more heavily populated part of the prison's designated recreational zone, Arabella activated the device and turned invisible. She managed to sneak her way out of the prison and back to the factory without detection. Sadly, once the prison realized her disappearance, an immediate manhunt had been sent out for her. Arabella, on the other hand, was not one to lay low. Her and Joanna immediately started wrecking havoc. Oddly enough, though, the duo's crime sprees had come to an unexpected halt.

After the duo had robbed a bank, along with Arabella destroying countless buildings and property, a single man stood out of the crowd of screaming, terrified people. This man, who had to at least be a year older than Arabella herself, didn't look afraid. He looked...determined. It was almost as if he were challenging them. He was a mutant, just like Arabella. He had superhuman strength, agility, and was near invulnerable. He didn't have quite the control over his strength yet, but he knew how to use his somewhat clumsy movements to render Arabella incapable of fighting until law enforcement arrived. He didn't even seem fazed by Arabella's hallucinogenic telepathic powers. He wasn't even rendered _catatonic_. Joanna, thankfully, managed to escape, and Arabella knew that she'd figure something out.

It had been that moment when Arabella swore she'd take him down. No one had _ever_ fought against her or Joanna. No one had the balls to do that.

"You'll be sent back to the maximum security prison you escaped from," the judge exclaimed, looking down at Arabella condescendingly. "Your associate, Joanna Gurzsky, has yet to make an appearance for herself. It saddens me to see two young, capable kids throw their lives away. But _you_ , Ms. Sheridan, have forty-five life sentences to think about that."

 **O.O.O.O**

"You wanted to see us, Professor?" Scott Summers stood at the entrance of Charles Xavier's office. Scott, his girlfriend Jean Gray, Kurt Wagner, and Kitty Pryde all stood in Xavier's office. The older man had a solemn look on his face, a look that genuinely made the kids uncomfortable.

"Yes," Xavier sighed. "I have been keeping track of a particular mutant for quite some time. She's a powerful psychic, her name is Arabella Sheridan."

"You want us to recruit her?" Kurt asked, tilting his head a bit to the side.

"I feel as though she would make a good addition to the institute," Xavier said, "but she's known to be quite violent. She's already facing multiple life sentences because of that."

"So, she's, like, in prison?" Kitty exclaimed.

"As of now, she has been recaptured and sent back." Using his automatic wheelchair to move himself to the side of his desk, Charles looked at his students with a heavy frown. "Arabella Sheridan is known to escape from prison, so what I know so far is that she'll eventually find a way out. What I am requesting from you four is to stop her when she does."

"You're asking a bunch of _kids_ to stop a psychotic mutant?" Kurt asked, his voice squeaking a little at the end.

"You won't go alone, Kurt," Xavier stated calmly. "I'll be sending Logan with you. Because of his background in fighting and his healing capabilities, he should be of great help for you four."

"When do we leave?" Jean asked.

"I would recommend as soon as possible. And before you leave, I did manage to find one more mutant in the city Arabella lives in. He was the one who put her back in prison, and I feel once she escapes again, she'll be going after him."

* * *

 **(A/N):**

 **This isn't my favorite chapter, but it's the best I could come up with given the circumstances. Either way, tell me what you think. If I got any of the canonical characters wrong, don't hesitate to let me know. Kurt, Jean, Kitty, Scott, and Logan will be serving a more main role in this story, with Xavier occasionally being seen from time to time.**

 **I own nothing in this franchise.**

 **Leave constructive criticism where you think it's needed. Like I said, I don't like this chapter, but since it was the best I could come up with... *shrugs***

 **Thanks.**

 **Judith W**


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